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The Journalistic Enemy of GA Stirkes Again

This recently aired TV news piece from ABC Nightline makes my blood boil. It's so ignorant, error filled, slanted, biased, unbalanced, poorly edited, frought with misinformation, and all designed to provide a sensationalistic rant on how unsafe GA is. The voice-over commentary/rhetoric provides a distortion of public perception with the intent to scare the s**t out of them.

Once agian, it's irresponsible journalism at its worst and so damaging to our collective passion. The hyperboly of the words chosen in the voice-over will make you want to commit a felony.

The instructor in the story who obviously believed in the best intentions of the reporter when first approached to do the piece on how to recognize and recover from unusual attitudes, must now feel so duped and betrayed because the story was aired as "public beware of the dangerous and frightening aspects of GA". Keep in mind that the instuctor footage was shot a few months ago and then re-edited with inserts of the high profile accidents of the past 10 days. You should also know that the "reporter" is a pilot! He should be ashamed of himself. Nightline, once a pillar of respected and responsible journalism, should be ashamed.

Now go to your windows, open them wide and shout out, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." Better still, can the guys make sure Advocacy sees the piece for any action they may see fit to express. We need to counter this crap!

For what its worth, those folks apply the same jounalistic standards to every other topic. I recall there was some sort of vehicle test where they did something out of the ordinary to get a fire started. I think they might have been sued over that.

If you watch these programs, do not be surprised if your IQ is lower afterwards.

I will suggest that rather than wasting your time watching TV, you should be whittling airplane parts. Much more constructive.

Please see my thoughts related to this on another thread about "Sport Aviation". This all needs to fall under the same PR campaign, and what we need to do is create a downside for the journalists. They have no downside to unfair reporting, so they do it without a second thought. If you punch me in the nose, and nothing happens, you'll do it again. If I do something after you punch me, then you may think twice before doing it again. A downside (legal, financial, whatever) needs to be created.

Ten thousand letters to the sponsors who advertise on their news show, each containing several box tops or UPC codes cut out of their product packaging, and a vow to remove those products from ten thousand shopping lists, will get the attention of even Procter & Gamble.

There is a possibility of filing a class action suit by 200,000 EAA and AOPA members for "trade libel" or some civilian version of fraud. This would take a dedicated fundraising effort to hire a big enough law firm that frightens the media's law firms. Of a very large pro bono donation by a group of lawyer EAA members if such a group exists. Very expensive but a worthy fight for our own survival.

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This recently aired TV news piece from ABC Nightline makes my blood boil. It's so ignorant, error filled, slanted, biased, unbalanced, poorly edited, frought with misinformation, and all designed to provide a sensationalistic rant on how unsafe GA is. The voice-over commentary/rhetoric provides a distortion of public perception with the intent to scare the s**t out of them.

Okay, I watched the same clip and didn't have that type reaction. The underlying premise is correct. Ho hum, back to our regulary scheduled programming.....

Yes, the report was full of inaccuracies, but the jist of what was said was true, although IMHO the accidents were a bit sensationalized in order to prove his journalistic point. If all pilots had some amount of spin and recovery training, they would be better pilots. However, the FAA dropped spin training back in the early 70s because they found that a number of students were dying either with their instructors while doing spin recovery training, or by themselves while practicing spins and recovery. Pilot training was changed to stall recovery and spin avoidance in order to avoid crashes and deaths during training.

On the other hand, while on average, there are 5 aircraft accidents a day in the US, some of which may be fatal, how many fatal car crashes are there nationwide every day? So why isn't that on the NTSBs "Most Wanted" list? Or is it because it then affects everyone rather than a select group?

Fair enough. We all react differently to various emotional stimuli. In your case, could be because of:

or;

f. I don't see a news report as a reason to go off on a half-cocked rant.

Face it, doesn't take much to show that pilot proficiency is below par. It's doubtful the average pilot can demonstrate the required proficiency for the certificate/rating they currently hold. However, I don't support any demand for higher standards through regulation. That would cause many to drop out of flying and find another hobby. I'd rather see people fly more and let proficiency improve through exercise.

On the other hand, while on average, there are 5 aircraft accidents a day in the US, some of which may be fatal, how many fatal car crashes are there nationwide every day? So why isn't that on the NTSBs "Most Wanted" list? Or is it because it then affects everyone rather than a select group?

The aviation numbers, when compared to cars, have a higher fatal incidence rate. The old adage about the drive to the airport as being more dangerous simply isn't true when talking about GA. I believe the aircraft fatality rate is on par with riding a motorcycle.

Can it be improved? Not easily. But GA really needs to get it's act together and try. Otherwise, the media will continue to hatchet the industry. Gonna be hard to get support for a libel suit when the statistical part of what they are saying is true.